Hi everybody -

I am in Philly participating in Phase 2 of my US musical adventure.

We cut 4 tracks last Monday/Tuesday with a great Philly rhythm section from back in the day. Earl Young on drums, T Conway on keyboards, Dennis Harris/Bobby Eli on guitars, Jimmy Williams on Bass and Rickie Hicks on percussion. Now I have finally witnessed how a song comes together in the studio and how important it is to have collaboration with people who can play their instruments well. They were inventive with the material presented to them and came up with some great contributions to the overall feel of the songs. There are some cracking guide vocals right now on two of the songs and tomorrow we will be recording the real deal on one of the songs. The sound is very Philly/Salsoul by nature and I am blown away at how the production of the tracks changes daily as new ideas come to light. What's even better, Earl Young gave me a drumming lesson and allowed me to video him explaining his drum fills. If anything, I hope to return to London with a better idea of how he used to create those Philly grooves to help me with my writing. The video footage is quite good, but I do not like to be in the studio filming etc, as that is not the priority. Stay tuned......

Edited September 17, 200816 yr by Carl Dixon

Hey Carl, ENJOY!

Say hi to Bobby and Vonnie for us willya?

A drumming lesson from Mr Young! Who'd have thunk it eh?

Lookig forward to a full report on your return, but keep us posted Mate....and Good Luck with it all.

Thanks Dave. Yes, it's a lot of fun.

I must admit, the songs have evolved over the last week. The guys who are doing some vocals on one of them are superb with their harmonies. The first track we did with a female lead sounds retro, but modern. If I heard it not knowing, I would try and pigeon hole it somewhere, which is probably the worst thing to do. More news later.....

Does anybody know whether Sussd records are still around? Their web site is down and I need to pick their brain.......

You could try their MySpace page....although last login 2/25/2008

Thanks Mike - I will.

Just as a matter of interest, Earl Young has produced a great version of TSOP with some great energy. Go here for his MySpace page and to hear a snippet. If things work out and I at least recover my investment with the Philly stuff I have to serioulsy ask Earl for a drumming course and fly back out again. His style of drumming is outstanding. I spent time every day in the studio trying to emulate him after watching closely to how he did things. We had a 23 year producer in on certain days and he could not believe the drum tracks were 'all the way through' without loops or samples. I explained that I wanted the rythm section to be traditional instrumentation from Philly musicians, which in my opinion is the backbone of the tracks created there. I can live with modern technology and recording techniques and even synths on anything styled after 1970, if that makes sense. I suggested that the likes of a Rhodes, Wurlitzer, wah wah guitar and even a Hammond organ are strictly an electronic sound and they had been accepted in the past. I just have to get my head around synths being an acceptable alternative to the very expensive real thing.